Increasing the Cooling Capacity of any radiator.

[mike_sho]

Here are a few simple tips to make sure your keeping cool this coming summer season:

First make sure you have new fluid in your system, a radiator flush is cheap and easy to do. A clean system will always run better. Also to help keep things clean & less corrosive I hear people run bottled water. Bottled water has less materials and no real calcium. While tap water contains hard water deposits...calcium buildup.

Running Higher WATER to coolant ratios greatly increases the cooling efficiency of ones radiator. With this though you run the risk of more corrosion. Radiator coolant is meant to prevent corrosion and freezing of the radiator in cool temps. When its summertime or hotter cliamtes , you can run more water.

But remember its at the risk of more corrosion. Which then brings us to our next tip.

Redline Water Wetter. This helps reduce corrosion and helps increase the cooling efficiency of the water. So you can run a higher water to coolant ratio, while also making any ratio cooler.

With this you now have a good cooling liquid. Now to optimize that.

Increased Pressure Performance Radiator Caps , help increase pressure on the radiator which increases the boiling point. So the water wont boil as easily against the hot metal.

Then to help open the motor up to allow coolant in from the radiator there is a thermostat. You can get a lower / performance thermostat that opens earlier on to allow cooler fluid to circulate the system.

A few other measures you can get a switch and wire the fan to run all the time. This helps cool the radiator off more , instead of waiting for it to hit a hot point then finally cool. Also performance fans can be bought that draw more air through the radiator.

You can also get a radiator cooling shroud. This helps direct more air towards the radiator. Thus allowing it to cool more.

After doing all these fairly simple and cheap modifications you can have yourself a cool running car. Which will extend oil life , engine life , promote engine power and will keep it running good even under aggressive driving conditions.

[DaWickedOne]

my friend uses 100% water during the summer and no problems :t2

[mike_sho]

Yup you can do that but I wouldnt suggest it. Maybe for that one night out to the track. But pure water and metal is no good. Water gets funky over time as well. Just think of sitting a big metal grate into water and heat it repeatedly...

The max I hear that you can do safely is 70% water.

[ExViTermini]

lower temp thermostats actually hurt performance more than help it though....you could jsut take ur thermostat and drill a small hole or two on the sides...peeps used to do that too.

[mike_sho]

So spoon and mugen offer these so you can loose hp? Only problem that can come of this is if you go to low on temps & VTEC wont engage into high-cam mode.

[ExViTermini]

in order for motors to be efficient and produce the power...they have to run a ceartain temp.....hell most new vehicles run about 210-220 degrees, compared to our older cars that run about 190 or so....Its quite possible that on a TRACK driven car, such as most their products are designed for, that a lower temp thermostat may actually help, b/c the temps may stay around a static 190 w/ the hard running and the lower thermostat...but for a street car...I'd advise against it.. just my .02

[soccaian]

the coolant in your cooling system also raises the boiling point of the water... so what is the advantage of using less coolant if you run a greater chance of the coolant simply boiling off and leaving you stranded and overheated?

[mls]

Originally Posted by soccaian

the coolant in your cooling system also raises the boiling point of the water... so what is the advantage of using less coolant if you run a greater chance of the coolant simply boiling off and leaving you stranded and overheated?

Not sure.

But I know F1 teams put anti-freeze into their radiators to raise the boiling point.

[RedTegra]

according to all of the professors at my college, 50/50 mixture of coolant and water is the most optimal mixture to raise the boiling point and freezing point. STAY WITH 50/50!

[BlueBallz]

Originally Posted by RedTegra

according to all of the professors at my college, 50/50 mixture of coolant and water is the most optimal mixture to raise the boiling point and freezing point. STAY WITH 50/50!

Use distilled water, also.

[mike_sho]

Originally Posted by BlueBallz

Use distilled water, also.

I noted the bottled water. Most drinking water will try to be clean as possible.....free of everything. As for the correct blend. Thats hard for anyone to decide , you really cant tell inside if its boiling or not.

But you can watch for power loss , so run as high of water as you can before it boils , because its better at transfering heat and cooling your motor.

Im pretty sure 70/30% is safe to use. I know people who run higher than that.... Im sure an f1 engine has quite a bit more heat than a 4cyl honda & not like they are giving you there blend...it could be 98/2% just enough to keep it calm.

[mls]

Originally Posted by BlueBallz

Use distilled water, also.

That is true. Or demineralized (I think distilled & demineralized is one in the same). Helps prevent corrosion over regular tap/drinking water.

[BlueBallz]

Or that H2Only shit: read the back on how they remove
everything; kind of funny/obsessive, but if it's true, there's
nothing but H2O in that bottle. I believe in the 50/50
solution, but the climate here's pretty moderate. I'd go
with more water if I lived somewhere hotter, or drove the
babes really hard. But I'm a pretty "cool" driver; always
glance at the temp gauge every now and then, though.
That's a good habit, I think.

[HatcHBacK3R]

arent hondas meant to run hot, not like over heating hot but hot, when the motor is cooler than its suppose to be not everything in the power stroke disapates (sp?) leaving carbon as a result, correct me if im wrong

[RedTegra]

another reason to run 50/50 is that ur ECT sensor is made to work with 50/50 as is ur t-stat. not running 50/50 can either make them not work properly or simply break them